Ninety-one percent of 227 surveyed teachers of children up to seven years of age (including 101 teachers who monitored educational television series for the Project), in 17 local education authorities in England and Wales, claimed to use educational television broadcasts to assist them with children's language development. However, apart from the nursery teachers, they appeared to put emphasis on language skill acquisition rather than language development, reinforcing the language policy of the schools. Two thirds of the teachers stated that they were catering for children individually when using educational television, although class viewing was the normal practice. The usual method was to watch a programme continuously from beginning to end (even when a video recorder was used) and then to discuss it with the children and to give written work on letter formation, sentence formation, initial sounds, etc., often by filling in worksheets. The teachers were encouraged in this practice by the television series, as these promoted the learning of language and reading skills rather than language development. There was no evidence to suggest that general interest series were used to any extent to enhance language development, in spite of overwhelming agreement by the teachers that television stories, songs and poems were valuable in this respect. A change of attitude by teachers towards language and educational television is desirable, involving the examination of current practices, the analysis of the material presented by broadcasters and the relating of developmental factors to the medium.

periods of 16-18 months was completed. The results of that pilot evaluation suggest that the scheme is practicable and realistic for implementation by parents and that the children involved achieved a good deal of success with the tasks that were set and showed evidence of language growth as measured on the Early Language Profile. However, when norm-referenced measures of language were used this progress was not any greater than that made by two comparison groups of childrenone of which was of school age and receiving no additional help to that provided at school and one which was of preschool age and receiving home based intervention using the Portage materials.The meaning of these findings is discussed (in the Research Report ) and their implications are explored. The practical value of the scheme is emphasized while the need for further evaluation is recognized.Most research into educational television has relied on the experimental control group methodology. It has assumed that television can teach. This may be the case with older pupils, but it is not so with younger children. With them, television is an aid, not a source of learning: consequently, its effectiveness depends on how it is used by teachers. The aims of the pilot study have been to identify the range of programmes of interest, and to establish and sharpen monitoring procedures. There were two lines of approach: (a) through pilot schools, which the research team would visit in order to observe how teachers were using educational television; and (b) through discussion groups of teachers in which various aspects of educational television formed the subjects of discussion.The areas of interest appeared to be confined to language, mathematics * Source of funds: The Leverhulme Trust Duration Pilot Study,

The absence of a previous large-scale investigation into educational television and the curriculum for young children necessitated establishing appropriate research procedures. This paper describes the salient features of the pilot study phase. A descriptive methodology based on questionnaire replies and classroom observations was resolved, but the work highlighted the desirability for constant contact with the participating teachers and the need for in-service education. The alignment of in-service education with research is examined and accepted providing the in-service elements are taken into account and not allowed to bias the research findings. The pilot studyThe lack of substantive research into educational television and young children necessitated the first year of our three-year project being spent on devising means to carry out a full-scale investigation.* It was necessary to identify the range of programmes of interest and establish research procedures to use with the full-scale inquiry. The research which has been undertaken is mainly American and orientated towards skill acquisition while the methods used do not fully acknowledge the function of the teacher in relation to educational television. This implies that efficacy in the potential of the medium cannot be gauged unless its role is recognized by a teacher. In other words, effectiveness has a prerequisite in the person of the teacher-how he or she incorporates educational television into the curriculum and how he abides by the psychology of learning to promote motivation and the fulfilment of children's needs and interests (Choat, Griffin and Hobart, 1984). The objective therefore was to devise strategies which would indicate the attitudes teachers have towards television, whether educational television programmes influence teaching methods, and the extent that educational television is recognized as part of the normal curriculum or treated as a separate entity (Choat, 1983a).Although procedures were needed which allowed data to be statistically analysed to measure how effectively teachers of young children were using television, further procedures were needed to complement the statistical evidence by indicating what happens in classrooms. Moreover, evaluation of the teachers' use of educational television was not the only consideration as an examination of the medium should also * The research is funded by the Leverhulme Trust assisted by donations from Thames Television and the Independent Broadcasting Authority.

The results of a three-year investigation in England and Wales into the way educational television was used by 259 teachers of children up to the age of seven years indicated that only a few teachers were using the medium effectively. Class viewing and mass viewing of programmes were the normal methods, even when a video-recorder was available. In most instances the video-recorder was used for timetable convenience, and 'view and follow-up' the common practice. These factors, together with a lack of continuity between programmes and separation from other activities the children were pursuing, suggested that educational television was isolated from other aspects of the curriculum. The findings indicated the necessity for a course on educational television to be included in the initial training of teachers, the need for a vastly increased in-service programme for serving teachers and the provision of adequate resources.